How Dare They?
by Serpentseeker
Summary: Loretta is celebrating Voldemort's downfall when an innocent question from her daughter makes her remember just WHAT was sacrificed that night.


Disclaimer: I own Loretta, Carly and anything else you don't recognize. Harry Potter and the like belongs to JK Rowling.

**xxxXxxx**

Loretta smiled at her husband and quickly ducked out of the room. The kitchen was deserted and cold; no one there to warm it. Everyone was celebrating in the lounge and backyard. The sound of roaring laughter and conversation drifted into the room.

"Mummy, what's going on?"

Loretta turned at the lisped voice and her eyes landed on her five-year-old daughter. The little angel stood barefooted in the doorway, clad only in a long white night dress. She was rubbing her bleary eyes. Her hair stood out at odd angles.

"What are you doing up so late?" Loretta scolded playfully. That night nothing would bother her. She was floating, all worries and fears gone. He was gone, he had been defeated!

"I heard loud noises. What's going on?" Carly asked again.

Loretta said happily and took her daughter by the hand.

"Do you remember that bad man we told you about?" she asked softly. As she spoke, she guided Carly to the bench and lifted her up to sit on it.

"Yes! I was good, Mummy! I hid and I didn't talk to strangers and I didn't go far and -"

"Sssh," Loretta soothed. "You've been a good girl, but guess what?"

"What?"

"He's gone!" Loretta concluded joyfully.

Carly's foreheard scrunched up in confusion.

"He went away?" she asked at last.

Loretta laughed softly.

"Something like that. I mean that he has been defeated! We don't have to worry about him any more! And Grandad and Grandma and all our family are safe!" she explained happily.

Carly blinked a few times and a wide smile spread across her face, showing the dark gaps where her two front teeth had fallen out. Already white was seen where they would grow back.

"How?" Carly asked at last.

"Well, there is a baby named Harry Potter. He's only a baby -"

"Like I was? And Matthew?" Carly interrupted.

"Exactly. Now, the bad man came to his house last night and tried to kill him. But he was killed instead," Loretta finished.

"So his mummy and daddy are happy with Harry Potter then?" Carly asked innocently.

Loretta's wide grin became a sad smile.

"Honey, the bad man took his parents. They won't be coming back," Loretta replied softly.

"So who will be his mummy and daddy?"

"I...don't know," Loretta finished.

"So his mummy and daddy went to the second land?" Carly asked.

"That's right," Loretta said.

"And he won't see them again?"

"No."

"Then why is everybody so happy that he hasn't got no mummy any more?" Carly asked innocently.

Immediately all joy and happiness deserted Loretta, leaving her feeling like she wanted to be sick. Unable to face her daughters wide eyes, she straightened and walked over to the sink, bending over it for awhile.

"Mummy?"

"Yes, Carly?" she asked tiredly.

"Will he be all right? Now that he hasn't got a mummy no more?"

"I don't know, Angel."

There was silence from Carly. It didn't last long.

"I still don't know why people are so happy."

"Go to bed, Carly," Loretta said softly.

Carly made a noise of protest but decided she shouldn't and shut her mouth with an audible click. There was a soft thud as she jumped off the bench and then padding footsteps on varnished wood. A pair of small arms wrapped around Loretta's thighs.

"Goodnight, Mummy."

And Carly was gone.

Loretta was left alone with her feelings of intense shame. How dare she celebrate when a baby was now an orphan, the weight on the world on his barely developed shoulders? How dare anyone be happy, now the cause of their joy was an orphan?

How dare they forget that a child would grow up without a mother to sing songs and ladle out treats and give them siblings siblings and to nurture and love? How dare they forget that a child would grow up without learning how to play Quidditch and be taught to ride a broomstick, to be given sneaky rides, to be told stories by their father?

How dare they?

Loretta slithered to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees.

How dare she?


End file.
